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Testimony —Tuesday, February 3, 1998
My name is Robert I. Sperber. I am here to record my opposition to the proposal to amend the racial
imbalance law, and to fold Chapter 636 into Chapter 70.
For the last sixteen years I have served as the executive director of the Boston Higher Education Partnership
and have kept careful records of the members' contributions to the Boston Public Schools. I will leave with
you a copy of the latest biennial report of activity. Since 1983 the value of what the colleges and
universities have given to Boston totals $225 million—in the form of scholarships, the services of mentors
and tutors, and professional development and curriculum building activities—to name but a few. A
significant reason that much of the support from higher education has continued is that the coordination for
that assistance by higher education has been supported by Chapter 636 funds. Without those dollars many
of the colleges—in order to continue programs in Boston schools—would have had to draw from tuition or
grant funds that are essential to their own operating budgets. It was the late Gregory Anrig who saw that the
colleges would incur additional expenses when they were asked by Judge Garrity in 1975 to collaborate with
the Boston schools, and it was Anrig as commissioner of education who asked the Legislature to pass
Chapter 636 so there would be funding to support the higher education effort in addition to helping urban
districts deal with desegregation.
The massive amount of help from colleges will be greatly diminished if Chapter 636 is folded into Chapter
70 and poverty substituted for race—because with the number of districts doubled Boston's share will be cut
in half—and support for the coordinators who direct higher education's programs in the schools will be
gone. To paraphrase the late Douglas MacArthurxategorical programs folded into general aid do not die,
they just fade away—because, as the legislature turns over, institutional memory is lost and the impetus to
help school districts deal with the destructiveness of racial discrimination will also be lost.
Let me offer some philosophical arguments as well against the proposed changes.
The proposition to shift the emphasis from race to poverty is part of a national movement that suggests the
problems of race in this country are on the way to solution, and that we should concentrate on other
issues—such as poverty. The Board of Education's memo prepared by James Peyser, Roberta Schaefer, and
Abigail Thernstrom says that "...today, however, the most serious equity issues confronting school districts
have far more to do with poverty than with race."
My experience says otherwise. Of my 45 years in education, the last 37 have been partially spent
combatting the cancer of racism that exists in the country and in our schools. Starting in Pittsburgh in
1961, as assistant superintendent of personnel when I initiated a policy that brought an end to black teachers
only teaching black children and white teachers only teaching white children—to 1964, working with Leon
Trilling and Stephen Chorover of Brookline along with Paul Parks and Ruth Batson to initiate METCO—
to my involvement as a board member with Jonathan Kozol in helping Boston's African American
community in starting the free school movement in Roxbury—to my work as superintendent of schools in
Brookline launching the Education Collaborative and the Metropolitan Planning Project—to my work
beginning in 1982—coordinating higher education resources and as a contributing founder of the Boston
Compact and the ACCESS program—to my current efforts with Jackie Rivers and Jay Scott and other
African American leaders to help minority students gain admission to Boston exam schools—
All of these experiences have taught me that the needs of African American and Hispanic children are great
and are not diminishing. That discrimination still exists in the broader community and it carries over to
our classrooms. It is reflected in some teachers in city and suburban school systems having lower
expectations for racial and language minorities. It is reflected in tracking patterns in cities and suburbs with
white children generally in higher ability classes and blacks and Hispanics in lower ability classes. It is
reflected in some guidance counseling discussions with racial and language minorities being advised to
apply to two year community colleges rather than competitive four year colleges.
That is a small sample of what is happening in the real world. This is not the time to
abandon the protections afforded by the racial imbalance law.

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Transcript

Testimony —Tuesday, February 3, 1998
My name is Robert I. Sperber. I am here to record my opposition to the proposal to amend the racial
imbalance law, and to fold Chapter 636 into Chapter 70.
For the last sixteen years I have served as the executive director of the Boston Higher Education Partnership
and have kept careful records of the members' contributions to the Boston Public Schools. I will leave with
you a copy of the latest biennial report of activity. Since 1983 the value of what the colleges and
universities have given to Boston totals $225 million—in the form of scholarships, the services of mentors
and tutors, and professional development and curriculum building activities—to name but a few. A
significant reason that much of the support from higher education has continued is that the coordination for
that assistance by higher education has been supported by Chapter 636 funds. Without those dollars many
of the colleges—in order to continue programs in Boston schools—would have had to draw from tuition or
grant funds that are essential to their own operating budgets. It was the late Gregory Anrig who saw that the
colleges would incur additional expenses when they were asked by Judge Garrity in 1975 to collaborate with
the Boston schools, and it was Anrig as commissioner of education who asked the Legislature to pass
Chapter 636 so there would be funding to support the higher education effort in addition to helping urban
districts deal with desegregation.
The massive amount of help from colleges will be greatly diminished if Chapter 636 is folded into Chapter
70 and poverty substituted for race—because with the number of districts doubled Boston's share will be cut
in half—and support for the coordinators who direct higher education's programs in the schools will be
gone. To paraphrase the late Douglas MacArthurxategorical programs folded into general aid do not die,
they just fade away—because, as the legislature turns over, institutional memory is lost and the impetus to
help school districts deal with the destructiveness of racial discrimination will also be lost.
Let me offer some philosophical arguments as well against the proposed changes.
The proposition to shift the emphasis from race to poverty is part of a national movement that suggests the
problems of race in this country are on the way to solution, and that we should concentrate on other
issues—such as poverty. The Board of Education's memo prepared by James Peyser, Roberta Schaefer, and
Abigail Thernstrom says that "...today, however, the most serious equity issues confronting school districts
have far more to do with poverty than with race."
My experience says otherwise. Of my 45 years in education, the last 37 have been partially spent
combatting the cancer of racism that exists in the country and in our schools. Starting in Pittsburgh in
1961, as assistant superintendent of personnel when I initiated a policy that brought an end to black teachers
only teaching black children and white teachers only teaching white children—to 1964, working with Leon
Trilling and Stephen Chorover of Brookline along with Paul Parks and Ruth Batson to initiate METCO—
to my involvement as a board member with Jonathan Kozol in helping Boston's African American
community in starting the free school movement in Roxbury—to my work as superintendent of schools in
Brookline launching the Education Collaborative and the Metropolitan Planning Project—to my work
beginning in 1982—coordinating higher education resources and as a contributing founder of the Boston
Compact and the ACCESS program—to my current efforts with Jackie Rivers and Jay Scott and other
African American leaders to help minority students gain admission to Boston exam schools—
All of these experiences have taught me that the needs of African American and Hispanic children are great
and are not diminishing. That discrimination still exists in the broader community and it carries over to
our classrooms. It is reflected in some teachers in city and suburban school systems having lower
expectations for racial and language minorities. It is reflected in tracking patterns in cities and suburbs with
white children generally in higher ability classes and blacks and Hispanics in lower ability classes. It is
reflected in some guidance counseling discussions with racial and language minorities being advised to
apply to two year community colleges rather than competitive four year colleges.
That is a small sample of what is happening in the real world. This is not the time to
abandon the protections afforded by the racial imbalance law.